COVINGTON, La. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LLOG Exploration Company L.L.C. (“LLOG” or the “Company”) and Blackstone
(NYSE: BX) today announced the formation of a long-term, strategic
partnership and have committed to invest over $1.2 billion to expand and
accelerate LLOG’s offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The
partnership will leverage the combined operational and financial
resources of LLOG and private equity funds managed by Blackstone
(collectively with their affiliates “Blackstone”) to expedite
development of LLOG’s four recent deepwater discoveries as well as the
exploration and appraisal of its extensive prospect inventory, which
includes over 110 offshore leases. In addition, the partnership will
expand LLOG’s asset base in the Gulf of Mexico through federal lease
sale participation, farm-ins and M&A activities, further building upon
its position as one of the largest private companies in the basin. This
strategic partnership is the largest private equity financing executed
in the Gulf of Mexico to date.

LLOG is one of the top 10 privately owned oil and gas companies in the
U.S. and one of the largest private operators in the Gulf of Mexico
(“GOM”). LLOG operates over 95% of its reserves and 86% of its
prospects. During the last two years, the Company has made four
consecutive discoveries, including two deepwater Gulf of Mexico
discoveries to date during 2012, and over the last 10 years the Company
has yielded an exploration drilling success rate of 70%.

Blackstone is one of the largest alternative asset managers in the
world, with more than $205 billion in assets under management and a
leading energy sector private equity investing franchise with an
extensive, successful track record of investing in partnership with
exceptional management teams seeking to fully capitalize on growth
opportunities. Blackstone is currently investing from two private equity
funds which aggregate over $19.3 billion of committed capital including
Blackstone Energy Partners (“BEP”), its dedicated energy sector fund.

Last year, LLOG commenced production from its Who Dat discovery, an
asset which is excluded from this partnership. The Who Dat Field, with
estimated reserves of 200 to 300 million barrels of oil equivalent, is
one of the largest discoveries in the GOM during the last several years.
This field is producing through the first privately owned floating
production system in the GOM, the Opti-Ex, which the Company acquired
and brought online in less than three years, a record setting pace for a
development of its type. Importantly, LLOG is also focused on
maintaining a strong long-term track record in the areas of health,
safety and environment and was the most recent company to be awarded the
coveted Safe Operations and Reporting (SOAR) Award by the industry
regulatory agency.

Scott Gutterman, LLOG’s CEO, commented, “We are very excited to form
this unique, significant, and long-term strategic partnership with
Blackstone. This is the first time that we have joined forces with an
equity partner on a Company wide basis, and we cannot imagine a more
suitable partner to mark this significant inflection point for LLOG.
This transaction is indicative of the many exciting assets and
opportunities we have at LLOG and will enable us to capture
opportunities that we could not otherwise pursue. We believe the Gulf of
Mexico deepwater is one of the most attractive oil plays in the world,
and we expect to continue to be a long-term, significant player in the
basin. I believe that with our deep technical and operations team,
experience and assets in the GOM combined with Blackstone’s team,
extensive capital resources, oil and gas expertise and industry
resources, we will be able to take our business, activity levels and
assets to the next level. We are very excited about the risk profile and
depth of our prospect inventory, the associated resource potential and
the operational, capital and human resources we will bring to safely
develop and expand our asset base for our partnership.”

Angelo Acconcia, the Managing Director who leads Blackstone Energy
Partners’ global oil and gas investing practice, commented, “We are very
excited to form this long-term partnership with LLOG to accelerate the
growth and development of LLOG’s attractive and extensive portfolio of
discoveries and prospects. LLOG has a very talented and experienced
technical and operations team, one of the best we have seen in the GOM
and the Company has an incredible track record of exploration and
development success, operational excellence and strong safety and
environmental practices. To complement this, LLOG is a highly efficient
deepwater operator, with the history and ability to accelerate
development, minimizing the timeframe to first production and
significantly increasing project returns.” David Foley, Chief Executive
Officer of Blackstone Energy Partners, stated, “We evaluate many
potential investments in the energy sector but choose only a small
number each year to pursue that we believe represent a combination of
the most exceptional management teams with unique and large-scale
opportunities to create value; LLOG is a great example of this.”

About LLOG

LLOG Exploration is a leading privately-owned E&P company in the Gulf of
Mexico and one of the top 10 private oil and gas companies in the United
States. LLOG is also one of the top 20 companies overall, both public
and private, in the Gulf of Mexico. LLOG has a high quality, balanced
portfolio of producing properties, development projects and exploration
prospects. With a dedicated and talented staff of professionals, LLOG
has maintained a 70% success rate on exploration wells over the last
decade. LLOG has a proven track record of safe and efficient operations
and was the recipient of the 2008 SOAR award. Company’s website: www.llog.com.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the largest alternative asset managers in the
world, with more than $205 billion in assets under management and is a
leading global private equity firm and energy private equity franchise.
Since its inception in 1985, Blackstone has invested over $42 billion of
equity in 172 transactions across the globe. Blackstone is currently
investing out of Blackstone Capital Partners VI (“BCP VI”), a $16.7
billion diversified general purpose private equity fund and Blackstone
Energy Partners (“BEP”), a $2.5 billion energy-focused private equity
fund. Blackstone’s private equity investments in the energy sector are
funded jointly by BEP and BCP VI, which together represent over $5
billion of equity capital allocated to energy.

Over the last decade, Blackstone has built a leading energy sector
private equity investing franchise with an extensive, successful track
record of investing in partnership with exceptional management teams
seeking to capitalize on their growth opportunities and realize the full
potential of their assets. Led by David Foley, the Chief Executive
Officer of Blackstone Energy Partners, this dedicated team of
professionals has committed and invested more than $7.5 billion of
equity in 25 energy transactions, across a broad range of geographies
and throughout the energy value-chain: upstream, midstream, services &
equipment, downstream and power. Oil & gas companies represent a
significant share of Blackstone’s capital commitments to the energy
sector and remain a key focus area for new investments. Blackstone’s
current portfolio of oil and gas investments include: Alta Energy,
GeoSouthern Energy Corporation, Kosmos Energy, OSUM Oil Sands, and Royal
Resources. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com.